I
Need You Tonight

I’m not sure where this painting came from. I
painted the couple kissing then left a space at the top left for a person. It
usually takes three people to make tension/conflict/a story. A few days passed
while I waited for something to float to the surface of my mind. One dark
Sunday evening I went for a long run, a route I used to do a few years ago,
down passed a deserted business park and along the canal. There was just enough
light down there to see the narrow path.

I liked the feeling that there’s no-one around,
everyone was at home watching the typical dramas they put on tele on Sunday
evenings. To make the run on the long stretch of canal bearable I flicked
through the tracks on my mp3 player and ZZ Top’s I Need You Tonight came
on. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpKUB7MO4UU)

Its one of those songs you only listen to a night
(the first line is “Its three, clock in the morning”) with a syrupy guitar solo
in the middle (which I can happily wallow in.) It just suited the dark deserted
place I was running through. I thought “that’s a good title for the painting”
and the following night I painted in a dejected woman looking at the kissing
couple. She’s looking at one of them thinking I Need You Tonight. The
half-deflated balloon on the floor sums up her feelings. I like experimenting
with colours so rather than use the usual flesh tones I added smudges of
yellow, blue and green.

There used to be a man who lived on the canal in a
small boat. I would often run passed and see his silhouetted body lit up before
a tiny black and white television screen. He always moored the boat on the
opposite side to the path so no-one could board easily. He lived there for
months and when I passed he would usually be sitting down and, as I trotted by,
he would raise his index finger about two inches to acknowledge me. I often
wondered if he was on the run having carried out a grisly, blood-spurting
murder, if there was a £50,000 reward for information leading to his capture.